DD214 or award/medal list for KIAs?

2019-06-18T12:31:18-04:00

I am a retired military chaplain doing a funeral service for a WWII Navy veteran whose remains have just been received. Great honor. My question: The funeral director says there is no DD214 since he was never "discharged." What documentation might there be to list any awards he may have received prior to his death (initial training, good conduct perhaps?) or any posthumously received awards other than the purple heart? Seems strange they wouldn't have "something" for KIAs to serve in place of a DD214 if indeed they don't or didn't produce one.

Response by SGT Javier Silva made Jun 18 at 2019 12:39 PM

2019-06-18T12:39:21-04:00

CH (COL) Private RallyPoint Member, your best source for that information will be The National Archives, or the service component:

https://www.archives.gov/personnel-records-center/awards-and-decorations

awards-and-decorations

Response by MSG Gary Eckert made Jun 18 at 2019 1:56 PM

2019-06-18T13:56:02-04:00

The form that serves is place of the DD Form 214 is the DD Form 1300 (Report of Casualty) but that form won't help you with his awards. I don't think the National Archives could work a request in time for the service and they will probably require the next of kin to submit the request. Unless you can find someone that knew him and they could provide some first hand knowledge of his service, I would highlight his hero service as part of the larger cause for the "greatest generation" rather than trying to speak to his specific service acts.

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jun 18 at 2019 7:04 PM

2019-06-18T19:04:33-04:00

This Funeral Director strikes me as inexperienced. He should gulp his pride and call a colleague who has interned a KIA/MIA. He was clearly "discharged" I doubt he's been getting paid all this time. Doesn't make him any less deceased. Most MIAs are declared dead, the death certificate would have cause of death incident to combat. WWII families would get a telegram notifying them the SM was missing and perhaps a followup telegram declaring them MIA and presumed dead.

Military honors and burial are a VA benefit. Here are the list of alternate records allowable. Among them are the 1300 report of Casualty that someone else mentioned. https://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/hmm/discharge_documents.asp

Recommendations/Thoughts:
- was he just returned by the JTF Full Accounting unit in Hawaii? They had to have had some paper work to transfer custody of the remains. It's not like UPS where they dump the box on the porch and ring the bell.
- did the Navy assign a Casualty Assistance Officer? They should be working this through their version of the CAOC. The CAO should have a package of documents.
- call the Navy Bureau of Personnel, tell them the story and see if they can hustle something up.
- Request records from the NPRC. Caution. This moves like a glacier. The 1973 fire may have impacted these records as well. The Army is the most impacted. Navy section might have something.
- call United States Navy Mortuary Affairs office toll-free at [login to see] .
- call the VA Burial Eligibility folks. https://www.cem.va.gov/cem/burial_benefits/eligible.asp

I'm surprised the remains were returned without any documents nor a package of decorations. Just given the era he'd have at a minimum: campaign medals (Europe/Africa, Asiatic/Pacific, and/or the American Campaign Medal), WWII Victory Medal. He was a prisoner, a POW Medal. Good conduct. Any other decorations he may have been awarded for service or valor. I'd defer to a Navy expert to talk badges, ranks and rates. Can the family fill in any blanks? Ships and dates are very helpful, because the. You can link the ship to a specific campaign to piece together campaign participation.

discharge_documents.asp

Response by MSG John Duchesneau made Oct 30 at 2020 10:25 AM

2020-10-30T10:25:18-04:00

If he was killed in action he "should" have received a Purple Heart. Since his remains were only recently recovered, he was probably listed as "Missing in Action" and I don't know if they awarded Purple Hearts to MIAs who were missing and presumed dead.

As he died at Pearl Harbor, he should have received the American Defense Service Medal with "Fleet" clasp, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one battle star and the World War II Victory Medal. He also "should" have been awarded the Navy Good Conduct Medal upon his decease.

Another complication is that of the awards listed above, the Pacific Campaign Medal and Victory Medal were not established until later in the war. I would have to check, but I think the Navy didn't start awarding the Purple Heart for combat wounds until 1942.

Response by CH (COL) Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 30 at 2020 3:15 PM

2020-10-30T15:15:38-04:00

Follow-up info - which might interest you who responded. This funeral was for a Navy fire-fighter killed on December 7th, 1941 at the age of 22 and buried in Punch Bowl Cemetery in Hawaii. His remains were just identified last year and returned for burial here. I was burying a sailor who was born in 1919 and killed at the age of 22 and being re-buried 78 years later. To do a funeral service for a KIA veteran killed at Pearl Harbor was quite an honor for me.